


another day

by Spikedluv



Category: Terminator (Movies), Terminator: Dark Fate, Terminator: Genisys
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:55:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22422193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spikedluv/pseuds/Spikedluv
Summary: Sarah and Pops are prepared for a Terminator to pop out of the Time Displacement Field.  What they get is something much different.
Relationships: Sarah Connor & Dani Ramos, Sarah Connor & Pops, Sarah Connor/Kyle Reese
Comments: 15
Kudos: 36





	another day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lunabee34 (Lorraine)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lorraine/gifts).



> Story takes place three-ish years after T:G and approximately 6 months after T:DF. This story was written for Lunabee34 because we both adored these movies. Sorry it’s so late!
> 
> I’m also using this fic to fill the _time travel_ square in my Round 14 [Trope Bingo on DW](http://trope-bingo.dreamwidth.org/) card [here](https://spikedluv.dreamwidth.org/1591755.html).
> 
> Title taken from Scarlet O’Hara’s famous line in Gone With the Wind: After all, tomorrow is another day.
> 
> Posted: January 26, 2020

Sarah stopped the heavily modified RV when she reached the coordinates Pops had given her. She turned the RV into a pull-off, glad that finally something had gone their way – instead of having to take out a Terminator on Interstate 405 they were on a secondary road. There wasn’t much traffic, but even the two SUVs that had passed them were two more than Sarah wanted to witness what was about to happen here.

Sarah checked her side mirror to make sure Pops had pulled the Ford F350 in behind the RV before turning off the engine. Experience had her leaving the key in the ignition for a fast getaway. Sarah slipped between the seats and headed for the back of the RV where Kyle was changing Jon’s diaper on the bed.

“How’s it going?” Sarah reached out and tickled the bottom of Jon’s foot. “How’re you doing, Jonny, huh, how are you doing?” Sarah tugged a toe and earned a smiling gurgle around Jon’s fist.

“We just woke up,” Kyle said.

“So hungry, then.”

“Listen, if you want to do this . . .”

“Milk’s in the fridge, champ.”

Sarah pressed a kiss to Kyle’s lips and almost got lost in the kiss, momentarily forgetting what they were here for. She pulled back reluctantly and bent to pull out a hidden storage drawer from beneath the bed. She’d already cleaned and loaded the guns while Kyle was driving, so she strapped two onto her hips and one across her back, then loaded enough ammo and explosives to take out a T-1000 into a duffel bag.

Pops opened the door and stepped into the RV after tapping out the code. “Are you ready, Sarah Connor?”

“I’m coming, Pops.” She gave Kyle one last kiss and followed Pops out of the RV and into the trees that hid the pull-off from the field behind it. She’d have felt worse about leaving Kyle behind if she hadn’t taken her turn protecting Jon during the last mission. Still, she felt better when she heard the sound of the bulletproof shutters lowering to cover all the windows and doors.

Sarah followed Pops without question, trusting his internal GPS to get them where they needed to be. Pops raised his hand in a fist and Sarah halted, sinking down behind a hedgerow of cottonwood and elderberry when Pops did. She glanced around them as she pulled the shotgun forward.

“Why would they send a Terminator here, in the middle of nowhere? There’s nothing for them to kill here except llamas.”

“And us.”

“You think they realized we’re killing the Terminators they send back and have sent one to deal with us?”

“It would be a good place to dispose of the bodies.”

“Cheery thought,” Sarah said, even as she remembered future John’s words: the future is not set. They could’ve done something to change the future further. If so, Skynet, or Genisys, or whatever they were called in this new time line, couldn’t be happy about it.

Pops went on alert. “It’s beginning.”

A moment later Sarah felt the static electricity in the air that heralded a Time Displacement Field. Soon after that a bubble formed and white light rent the air. Sarah was moving before the TDF dissipated, leaving two naked female forms kneeling on the grass. They’d sent two this time – maybe Pops had been right about why they’d chosen this location.

Sarah strode forward, prepared to hit the Terminators before they knew, well, what had hit them. Best to not give them time to react. Sarah raised the gun, but before she could fire Pops stopped her with a hand on her arm.

“Sarah Connor,” Pops said.

Sarah didn’t lower the gun. “What?”

“Not you, Sarah Connor. Her.”

Sarah turned back to the two females. They’d both straightened. The older one was looking at Sarah as if she’d seen a ghost. The other was looking worriedly at her companion.

“Are we in 1984?” the older woman said.

Sarah shook her head. “2021.”

“That can’t be,” the dark-haired woman said. “We just left 2021.”

“Who are you?” Sarah demanded.

“I’m Dani,” the dark-haired woman said. “Dani Ramos.”

“And I’m you,” the older woman said. “Just with a little more grey.”

Sarah’s gaze involuntarily moved to the older woman’s short-cropped hair. “Pops?”

“They are both human,” Pops said. “And that woman is Sarah Connor.”

“How do you know?”

Pops gave Sarah a look. “I just know.”

“Okay, well, what are you two doing here?” Sarah demanded of the two women.

“We’ll tell you everything,” Dani promised. “I think we need your help getting back, anyway. But first, some clothes, and maybe a cup of coffee?”

“Make it a beer,” the older version of Sarah said.

“Okay,” Sarah said. “You can borrow our jackets for the walk back to our vehicles, or we can wait for Kyle to bring you something.”

“Kyle?” Older Sarah said. “Kyle’s here? Kyle’s . . . alive?”

“Yes.”

“Kyle?” Dani said. “Kyle Reese?”

“Yes,” Sarah said. “My husband.”

Older Sarah looked shell-shocked, and Sarah was reminded that her Kyle had died before John was even born. Before she had even known she was pregnant. That is, if her time line had followed the events of Sarah’s own original time line, as Pops had explained it to her.

Sarah and Pops removed their jackets and gave them to Dani and Older Sarah. While Dani was putting on the jacket, Sarah stepped closer to her counterpart.

“This is going to be . . . strange.”

“It’s already strange, kid.”

Older Sarah had to know that her calling Sarah ‘kid’ would rankle – after all, she _was_ Sarah – but Sarah bit her tongue. “Okay, then, let’s get going.” Sarah started moving back the way they’d come. “Pops, take the rear.”

Older Sarah gave Pops a look that carried distrust, but she wisely didn’t say anything. Sarah noted that Dani was also watching Older Sarah carefully. Sarah’s pace put her a ways in front of the two women who were walking barefoot. When she felt certain they wouldn’t be able to overhear her, Sarah took out the burner phone and called Kyle.

“Sarah?” Kyle answered immediately, sounding worried. “Everything alright?”

“Peachy,” Sarah said. “We’re fine. Two people came through – humans, not Terminators. They need clothes.”

“What can you tell me?”

Sarah paused to look over her shoulder. “Nothing that would do this justice. You have to see this for yourself. See you in a few.”

Sarah flipped the phone shut and slipped it into her pocket. She waited for the others to catch up. Pops caught Sarah’s eye and raised an eyebrow. Sarah lifted her chin in acknowledgment.

When they reached the tree line Sarah looked around the pull-off before stepping out. Kyle stood outside the locked-down RV with a basket of clothes they’d picked up here and there at his feet and a grenade launcher strapped to his back. It was overkill, but Kyle’s go big or go home attitude was one of the things Sarah loved about him.

Ignoring their company, Sarah walked right up to Kyle and went to her toes to give him a kiss. “How’s Jonny?” she said softly, for Kyle’s ears only. (And Pops, but that couldn’t be helped.)

“Fine,” Kyle said. “Enjoying the pack-n-play.”

(Sarah and Kyle had been flabbergasted when Pops went online shopping one day to get them a bunch of things for Jon, like the pack-n-play.)

Kyle opened his jacket to show Sarah the monitor he’d brought outside with him. That was another thing she loved about him. Sarah was tempted to kiss him again, but the others had reached them now.

Keeping one hand on Kyle’s arm, Sarah turned to face their guests. “Kyle, this is Dani Ramos and Sarah Connor.”

Kyle had been extending his hand, but he froze at the last name. “What?”

“Yeah,” Sarah said. “Apparently Skynet, or whatever they’re calling it in your time . . .”

“Legion,” Dani supplied.

“Genisys,” Sarah shared. “Anyway, apparently they’ve figured out how to build a Time Displacement Device that crosses space, as well as time.”

“Fuck.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“We need to compare notes,” Pops said, “but we should do so inside.”

“You’re right,” Sarah said. “Sorry to keep you standing out here in just the jackets.”

Kyle reacted as if he’d been goosed. “Clothes. You should find something that fits.”

Older Sarah began digging through the basket. “What did you do, raid a lost and found?”

“Are you actually complaining that we have clothes for you?”

“No.”

Sarah had already turned away from Older Sarah; it was too weird to think that she was talking to an older version of herself. “How far to the nearest safe house, Pops?”

“Three hours, twenty-three minutes, and twelve seconds. Allowing for traffic.”

“We can’t leave,” Older Sarah said. She was wearing a pair of unicorn lounge pants and an over-sized t-shirt that made it look like she was ready for bed. “We need to figure out how to get back.”

“You need a TDD to do that,” Sarah said. “Or whatever they’re calling their new and improved version. And unless you plan on building it out of elderberries, grass and llama dung there’s no reason to stay here. We need to leave, now. Before Legion figures out where you’ve gone.”

“Can you build another one?” Kyle said.

“Wait, you’ve build a TDD before?” Older Sarah said at the same time Pops said, “With the correct equipment.”

“Alright, let’s get going,” Sarah said, making the decision. “One of you goes with Pops and one rides with us.”

Sarah noticed Older Sarah’s stiffening shoulders, but before she could comment on it, Dani said, “I’ll ride with, uh, Pops.”

Older Sarah gave Dani a grateful look that Sarah ignored. She pressed the button on the remote in her pocket and waited impatiently for the shutters to rise.

“You okay?” Kyle said from right behind her.

“I didn’t get to shoot anything.”

“Day’s not over yet.”

Sarah smiled. “You say the sweetest things.”

Sarah swung herself into the RV. She set down the duffel bag and disarmed herself so she could bend over the playpen and lift Jon out. There was no blood on her, not even any gun powder residue, so she didn’t worry about cleaning up first.

“I’ll put these away.” Kyle headed to the back with the duffel and guns.

“Thanks,” Sarah said as she pressed her face to Jon’s neck.

“It’s the closest I’ll get to using one today,” Kyle said.

Sarah smiled as Jon pulled her hair. Their life was weird, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Sarah heard Older Sarah climb into the RV behind her. She bit down on the irritation she felt and said, “You can sit in the front with me.”

When Older Sarah remained silent too long for politeness’ sake, Sarah turned around. Older Sarah was staring at Jon.

“Is that . . . John?”

“Sort of,” Sarah said. “He turned out to be a she in this time line. Or at least, to have female genitalia. I guess we’ll have to wait until she can talk and think for herself to know what pronouns she’d like to use.”

Older Sarah gaped.

“We named her Jonelle.”

Older Sarah raised a shaking hand to her mouth.

“Sorry,” Sarah said, unable to hold onto her irritation in the face of Older Sarah’s very real pain. “I didn’t think to warn you.”

“It’s fine,” Older Sarah said. “You couldn’t have known. I just need a minute.”

Kyle, who’d come in on the end of their conversation, pointed to the back of the RV. “Bathroom’s back here. Or the bedroom.”

“Thank you.” Older Sarah moved past Kyle, squeezing in so she didn’t touch him.

“Okay, this is more emotionally fraught than I expected a mission to kill a Terminator to be.”

“Tell me about it,” Sarah said. “Guns?”

“Locked up.”

Sarah nodded. She gave Jon one last kiss, then handed her off to Kyle. “Buckle her in, will you?”

“I will,” Kyle said, “because I am the buckle king!” He blew a raspberry on Jon’s belly that made her laugh.

Sarah watched them for a moment, then headed to the front of the RV. She knew she was lucky; she hadn’t lost Kyle like Sarah had in other time lines. Like Older Sarah had done.

Sarah started the engine. She keyed the walkie talkie. “You ready, Pops?”

“We are ready, Sarah Connor.”

Sarah smiled as she checked her mirrors before pulling out onto the road. Kyle took the currently empty passenger seat and held out a Tupperware of energy bites they’d made for purposes just like this, when their blood sugar might be dropping. Sarah hadn’t had to fire her weapon, but she still felt as if she’d run an emotional marathon.

Sarah took one of the little balls and bit into it. After the second ball she began to feel better. “Thanks, I needed that.”

“You’re not you when you’re hungry,” Kyle said, and Sarah punched him in the arm.

Kyle laughed and stood, moving back to offer the seat to Older Sarah.

“That isn’t necessary.”

“Sit,” Kyle said.

Older Sarah took the seat without another protest. Kyle offered her the Tupperware and she took one of the balls.

“What is it?”

“Energy bite,” Kyle said.

“They’re good,” Sarah added.

Older Sarah gave Sarah a look, but bit into the treat. She didn’t say anything, but she popped the second half into her mouth, so she must’ve liked it.

~*~

It took them over four hours to reach the safe house. Sarah had to pull off twice – once when Older Sarah told her what had happened to John in her time line and once when they passed a Target so Older Sarah and Dani could get shoes and clothes that fit.

Sarah let Pops and Kyle make sure the old farmhouse hadn’t been compromised, choosing to stay in the RV and keep watch over Jon. After Older Sarah’s story, she was afraid to let Jon out of her sight. Sarah didn’t relax until Kyle returned and told her it was safe.

They moved quickly to get Jon and all her supplies into the reinforced farmhouse. Kyle and Pops left Sarah with Older Sarah and Dani while they moved the RV and pick-up into the barn. Sarah set the car seat down so Jon could see her while she piled wood in the living room fireplace.

“You live here?” Dani said.

“It’s one of our safe houses,” Sarah said. It didn’t answer the question, but Sarah didn’t care right then if she insulted them by not over-sharing. They weren’t Terminators, and one of them was an older version of Sarah herself, but that didn’t mean she was going to trust them with everything just yet. Look what had happened to John.

Kyle and Pops returned with duffel bags of weapons and canvas bags of groceries they’d picked up at Target. Pops began unloading the groceries on the kitchen counter. Kyle stored the weapons in the safe they’d installed, then returned to the living room and unbuckled Jon from the car seat.

Kyle dropped a kiss on the top of Sarah’s head and raised Jon to sniff at her diaper. Kyle made a face. “Why is it never when your mother picks you up?”

Jon made a sound that Sarah chose to interpret as an evil laugh. She smiled into the fireplace as she coaxed the larger pieces to catch. Sarah listened to the sound of Kyle talking to Jon in the downstairs bedroom they’d reinforced before making it the main bedroom slash nursery and pushed to her feet.

“Need help, Pops?”

“According to you I should never be left alone in the kitchen.”

Sarah grinned. “I stand by that.” She glanced over the groceries and held up a can of coffee grounds.

“Coffee,” Sarah said loud enough for Dani to hear. “Why don’t you two come sit at the table. We can talk while we make supper.”

“Can we help?” Dani said.

Sarah set up the coffee maker. “No need. Pops and I have a system.”

“Can we ask questions?” Older Sarah said as she pulled a chair away from the table.

“Sure.”

“How are you here? I mean, it’s 2020. I’m fifty-six and you’re still, what, twenty, twenty-one?”

“Twenty-three,” Sarah said, then, “Time travel.”

Sarah heated the pan and browned the stew meat while Pops cut up potatoes, carrots and celery. Before Older Sarah could ask more questions, she said, “How did you end up here, in our 2020?”

Dani looked to Older Sarah, who’d been distracted by Kyle and Jon entering the kitchen, and answered the question. “We heard rumors that Legion . . .”

“Legion?” Kyle said.

“Skynet in our time line.”

“Even when we win we never fucking win,” Older Sarah said.

A moment of awkward silence followed that pronouncement.

Kyle broke it. “You were saying about Legion?”

“Uh, yeah, we heard they were building a time machine . . .”

“TDD,” Sarah and Older Sarah said at the same time.

Dani waved a hand. “. . . so we went to check it out.”

Sarah shared a look with Kyle and Pops.

“And somehow ‘check it out’ turned into ‘test it out’?” Kyle said.

“That wasn’t our intention,” Older Sarah said. She gave them a suspicious look. “What aren’t you telling us?”

“In our time line the machines sent someone back to make sure that Skynet . . . Genisys . . . was built. He was also working on a time travel device. We saw it at Cyberdyne when we were there. They must’ve done something similar in your time line.”

“Who’d they send back?” Dani said.

“Sarah Connor,” Pops said softly, drawing Sarah back to her task. She finished putting the stew together and let Kyle answer Dani’s question.

“It’s a long story,” Kyle said, “but they sent back . . . John.”

“What?” Older Sarah said.

“John was taken by the machines after he sent me back,” Kyle said. “I was already inside the device and couldn’t help him. He was turned into one of them.”

“No,” Older Sarah said.

“I’m sorry.”

There was a loud screech as Older Sarah pushed her chair back. Sarah stood frozen with the spoon in her hand as Older Sarah ran out the door.

“She’s . . . been through a lot,” Dani said before following Older Sarah out.

Sarah covered the pot and left it to simmer. She carefully set the spoon down. “Do you think she’s right? Will Skynet, or something like it, rise no matter what we do?”

“Not if I can help it,” Pops said.

“What he said,” Kyle said. “You know what you need?”

“To spar?”

Kyle hesitated. “That’s . . . not what I was going to say, but yes, that’s exactly what you need.”

Kyle handed Jon over to Pops and took Sarah’s hand. She didn’t protest, just laughed and let him drag her out of the kitchen to the front door. Pops brought Jon out and sat on the porch, reading one of her favorite stories to her when he wasn’t telling Sarah to keep her arms up, or to anticipate Kyle’s move.

Dani and Older Sarah eventually wandered back. Sarah didn’t stop sparring with Kyle. She could feel Older Sarah judging her family, which made her want to punch things all the harder.

“That coffee should be done,” Dani said.

“Bring out some water,” Pops said before Dani disappeared inside.

Older Sarah leaned on the porch railing a good distance away from Pops, on alert for anything out of the ordinary.

Sarah concentrated on sparring and forgot about everything else until Pops said, “The stew should be done now, Sarah Connor. I will go in to heat up the bread.”

“Okay.” Sarah wiped sweat off her forehead and caught the water bottle Pops tossed to her.

“Hydrate.”

“Thanks, Pops.”

Almost as if they’d planned it, Kyle and Dani followed Pops and Jon inside, leaving Sarah outside with Older Sarah.

“Why do you call . . . him ‘Pops’?”

“Because that’s what he is to me.”

Older Sarah gave Sarah a confused look. “Mom and dad?”

“Dead,” Sarah said. Her voice was steady, but her insides went hot and cold, like they always did when she thought of that day at the lake.

Sarah gestured towards the porch steps. She sat and waited for Older Sarah to join her. “In 1973 they sent a Terminator back to kill me.” Sarah ignored Older Sarah’s gasp. “We were at the cabin.”

“Big Bear Lake,” Older Sarah said, like it was a memory.

Sarah nodded. “The cabin blew up and something came out of the water. Dad told me to go.” Sarah swallowed hard. “Pops found me hiding under the dock. He’d been sent back to protect me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“And I’m sorry for whatever losses you’re carrying.”

Older Sarah was silent for long enough that Sarah didn’t think she was going to respond. “We won,” Older Sarah finally said. “We stopped Skynet. But not before it sent a Terminator through from the future. I let my guard down and it killed John.”

“Oh my god,” Sarah said. She thought about her Jon and how she’d feel if she lost her. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea . . .”

“After that, winning didn’t feel much like winning. And then I met . . .” Older Sarah gestured towards the farmhouse. “They sent a Terminator back to kill her.”

“Why?”

“Because in the new future we created, she’s the leader of the human resistence.”

“But . . . you stopped Skynet.”

“Apparently people just can’t stop themselves from building sentient AIs,” Older Sarah said. “I’m guessing this isn’t the first temporal disturbance you’ve investigated.”

Sarah shook her head. Despite the incursions from the future, she’d really thought they’d changed things so the world wouldn’t end and her child wouldn’t have to become the leader of the human resistence. Especially when Jon had been born. But it appeared that the world abhorred a vacuum – if John wasn’t available someone else would be forced into the role.

“Sorry,” Older Sarah said. “I shouldn’t have . . .”

“No,” Sarah said. “It’s something I need to face. But it’s a problem for later. Right now we need to figure out how to get you back to your time line.”

“You got a TDD just laying around?” Older Sarah said wryly.

“No. But if we could figure out the dimension hopping aspect we could build another one.”

“You said something about that before.”

“Let’s go eat. I can’t think on an empty stomach.”

Pops was just taking the bread out of the oven when Sarah entered the kitchen.

“You are just in time, Sarah Connor.”

“Smells good, Pops.”

Sarah stopped to look at Jon, who was playing in the playpen. She gave Kyle a kiss before taking a seat at the table. She’d tell him later what she’d learned from Older Sarah. Right now they were going to eat and take a moment to relax and recharge. Then they’d worry about how they were going to return Dani and Older Sarah to their own time line.

And after that they’d think about how they were going to save their own world. Again. Because Sarah refused to let Jon grow up in a world where the machines _still_ rose up and killed everyone. But that, too, was for later.

Sarah took Kyle’s hand in her right and Pops’ in her left. (She noticed that Older Sarah had seated herself so that she wasn’t next to Pops, but let it go.) Sarah bowed her head and let Pops’ words of thanks flow over her.

There was no talk of world-ending events over the meal. Only small talk and some laughter. Sarah encouraged Older Sarah to hold Jon while Kyle and Dani washed dishes and Pops performed a perimeter check.

Later they worked out sleeping arrangements – Dani and Older Sarah got the downstairs bedroom while Sarah and Kyle curled up on the sofa in front of the fire with Jon in the playpen near them and Pops watching over them. She’d worry about everything tomorrow; right now she was going to enjoy this well-earned peaceful moment with her family.

After all, tomorrow was another day.

The End


End file.
